Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

I returned to the Holy City with Ryuka, who had just become my wife, and my new brother-in-law Ryuushin in tow. However, something was amiss.

There was nobody in the Great Shrine.

“Hey, Halt, you suddenly dragged us here but… I don’t get it.”

Ryuushin had a temporary short-term memory loss after being punched by Ryuka.

He completely forgot that I had been there while Ryuka was bathing, and the only thing he remembered was when I pulled him out of the house wreckage.

By the way, I haven’t told Ryuushin yet that I married Ryuka. I had a feeling it would turn a bit messy, so Ryuka and I decided to tell him after the turmoil calmed down in the Holy City.

“Ryuushin, this is the Holy City of Sanctum. The demon, warlocks, and a massive group of monsters are currently attacking it. Lend me your strength.”

“Ohh! So there’s a demon here, huh! I didn’t have any chance to fight with all I got ever since I completed my dragonization. Can I go for the kill?”

His current strength could no longer compare to the time when he had lost against the warlock back when we were first years.

Moreover, he already completely mastered [Complete Dragonization], so even if Guzion was a demon, and an 11th ranked one at that, Ryuushin wouldn’t fall behind him.

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“Yeah, if you saw him, then go ahead and annihilate him. But first things first, we need to meet-up with everyone else.”

I was uneasy, for some reason.

I already gave the demon a great deal of damage, and I didn’t think he could summon monsters in such a short time.

It was said that there were ten warlocks and a thousand monsters serving under him.

In that case, even if the warlocks summoned the monsters, they would still need to summon a hundred each.

Based on Tina’s mana detection, a warlock would take 5 to 10 seconds to summon each monster. That’s why I thought we still had a lot of time left, but —

It became rowdy outside the cathedral.

Seemed like the evacuation of the citizens had begun.

There was no more time left.

We should hurry up.

“Ryuka, come here for a sec.”

I took Ryuka to the Crystal that the demon destroyed.

“This is the Crystal that activates the barrier that protects the Holy City, but the demon broke it… Can you fix it?”

“It’s fine, I think. But, it’s too gigantic, so I don’t think I have enough mana to completely mend, so —”

“Of course I’ll give you mana. You can use all you need.”

“Got it.”

Ryuka held my hand after saying that.

“Please send enough mana to me once my mana is down to about half. If you can keep my mana at a constant level, then I can concentrate properly in activating my magic, but… I’m sure Halt can do this, righ?”

Ryuka was relying on me.

She believed in me.

I was a bit happy.

“Of course. Leave it to me!”

“Eh, what? Since when did the two of you get along so well?”

“Shut up, Ryuushin, you’re bothering my concentration.”

“S-sorry.”

Oh how pitiful, Ryuushin, my younger brother-in-law!

“Alright, here I go.”

“Yep. You can start anytime.”

Ryuka’s body softly glowed, and the dragon scales on her body gradually increased in size. At the same time, Ryuka’s mana level also increased.

She placed the hand that wasn’t holding mine on top of the Crystal.

“Resurrection!” 

It was an amazing magic, no matter how many times I saw it.

It was as if time turned back. The Crystal as being restored to its original state.

One tenth of the Crystal had been fixed before Ryuka’s magic went down to half, so I started sending mana to her through our clasped hands.

I took care to maintain her mana at a constant level.

The cracks on the Crystal had varying sizes, so the amount of mana that Ryuka consumed also changed depending on the size of the crack being repaired.

In order to maintain Ryuka’s concentration, I gazed at the cracks and estimated the amount of mana she would consume and gave her enough accordingly.

The Crystal returned to its original state after a few minutes.

“Fuu, it’s done!”

“That was amazing. Thanks, Ryuka.”

“Ehehehe”

She did her best, so I patted her on the head, and she beamed at me in return.

“That’s because Halt did it according to my request. Your mana was very comfortable.”

“Really, that’s great.”

“You guys… were you this close before?”

Ah, I forgot Ryuushin was also here.

“….Ryuushin, I didn’t say you can speak yet.”

“Eh”

Ryuushin stiffened when Ryuka glared at him.

Ryuushin was a lot stronger than her, mana and power-wise, but yep, a younger brother really couldn’t go against his older sister, I guess.

I touched the Crystal with those thoughts. I would activate the Holy Barrier by filling it up with holy mana.

How much should I send in?

The Crystal might break again if I poured too much, so I decided to give it a little bit at a time.

“For now, I’ll pour around 100,000 —”

The Crystal glowed with a fierce intensity the instant I poured 100,000 mana, and the Holy Barrier was activated.

— Eh.

“Is this the barrier? As expected of you, Halt.”

“Ah, Yeah, Yup.”

I didn’t expect that 100,000 would be enough…

What a relief that I didn’t pour a million mana all at once.

At any rate, the Holy City would be protected now from the monsters. The only remaining problem would be the warlocks and the demon.

With Ryuka and Ryuushin in tow, I teleported to the western side of the city walls.

──＊＊＊── 

When we reached the western side of the wall —

An unbelievable sight, one that I didn’t want to believe, greeted us.

“N-no way…”

The corpses of the soldiers who protected the Holy City lay on the ground.

There were around 50 of them.

A nearby holy knight explained that they had been annihilated by the monsters and warlocks who attacked right after the Holy Barrier had disappeared.

Blood drained from my face.

These guys died because of me.

It was because I let the demon escape.

It was because I thought that it would take them time before they attacked.

Why did I let down my guard at that time?

Why didn’t I leave some flaming knights for defense?

Why didn’t I defeat the demon first before going to call Ryuka?

Why, WHY?

EVERYTHING WAS MY FAULT.

“Halt, are you okay?”

Ryuka was worried.

It only tormented me further.

“It was my… my fault that they died.”

“Eh?”

“I let the demon escape. I was too complacent so — “

“Halt! It’s okay. I will revive all of them! That’s why you have to pull yourself together!”

I knew that.

If Ryuka was here, all of the soldiers would be revived again.

But… That wasn’t it.

Death is scary.

It is painful.

I knew that, because I also died before.

I’m sure all of the soldiers who had fallen here were scared. It must have been really painful.

They must have carried that pain and terror for a lot longer compared to me, who had been reincarnated right after my death.

And it was all my fault.

It was the first time I experienced people dying because of me.

I thought that if they harbored hostility against me, then it couldn’t be helped if I killed them.

If I don’t kill them, I’m going to be killed — that’s the kind of world this was.

But what about the murdered soldiers who were right here, laying on the ground right before my eyes?

They were not my enemies.

They had tried to protect the citizens of the Holy City.

From the demon that I allowed to get away.

“Ryuka, please revive them.”

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“Y-yes!”

“Also, Ryuushin.”

“Y-yeah… what is it?”

“I’m going to crush the demon myself.”

–––T/N: This was a good wake-up call for Halt. He was just a human, after all. No matter how strong he was, he shouldn’t be too complacent in dealing with the Evil God’s minions. Halt didn’t experience any major setbacks yet, so this was nice, for his character development as well, moreso because it was his fault in the first place.